Fact Check: Youth leaders were not stopping the victim’s body from being transported at RG Kar Hospital
The incident of rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sent shockwaves in the country. The incident that took place in the hospital campus raised questions about the safety of the doctors on their own hospital premises and also possible evidence tampering, etc. The incident ignited widespread protests by the junior doctors and also women organisations
Claim :
Youth leaders and doctors stopped the victim’s body from being shifted away from the hospital quietly after the incidentFact :
The viral video shows youth leaders and doctors protesting at the hospital, demanding justice for the victim
The incident of rape and murder of a 31-year-old female trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sent shockwaves in the country. The incident that took place in the hospital campus raised questions about the safety of the doctors on their own hospital premises and also possible evidence tampering, etc. The incident ignited widespread protests by the junior doctors and also women organisations. Junior doctors at the hospital stopped work, except for the emergency services demanding immediate arrest of the perpetrators.
Sanjoy Roy, a 33-year-old volunteer, was arrested after evidence linked him to the crime. He has been sent to the judicial custody till September 6, 2024. According to CBI, the accused had confessed to the crime during interrogation. Meanwhile, a video of people arguing in front a vehicle and not letting it pass through has been in circulation with the claim that as the doctors stopped the car which was quietly transporting the body of the rape victim.
Several X users shared the viral video with the same caption “This was the moment when CPM leader Meenakshi Mukhopadhyay and doctors from RG Kar Hospital stopped the car that was transporting the body of Moumita Debnath. Had they not stopped the car at that moment, we might never have known about this incident, this case would have been a suicide case today. “
Fact check:
The claim is Misleading. The viral video does not show the leaders and doctors trying to stop the transportation of the victim’s body after the incident happened. It shows a protest staged by the students and youth demanding justice for the victim.
When we searched the keyframes extracted from the video using Google reverse image search, we found a post published on social media accounts of CPI (M) on August 10, 2024.
The Facebook page of Communist Party of India (Marxist) shared the video on August 10, 2024 with the caption “West Bengal: Left students and youth staged a protest at RG Kar Medical College & Hospital, demanding justice for the rape and murder of a postgraduate medical student from the institution. The protesters raised several critical questions: Why was there an attempt to remove the body from the hospital? Why was the autopsy conducted at the hospital where the mysterious death occurred? Why was the family of the deceased prevented from speaking with the left student-youth leadership? Why does it appear that the administration is trying to cover up the incident? Why are left-wing activists being violently attacked for trying to speak with the family?
There needs to be an immediate and thorough investigation into the death of the junior doctor. The true cause of death must be revealed and those responsible should be held accountable and punished.”
It was also shared on their X account.
We also found the same video shared on YouTube channel named Sarab Media news with the title ‘CPI(M) protest at RG Kar Hospital premises’.
Therefore, the viral video does not show the youth leaders and doctors stopping the shifting of the victim’s body from the hospital. It shows the youth protesting at the RG Kar hospital premises demanding justice to the rape victim. The claim that they were trying to stop the victim’s body from being transported away from the hospital is Misleading.
